Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Lakeland Community College Civic Theatre

(Molly McGinnis as Martha and Gregory Violand as George)

As
we all know by now, the territory Edward Albee plops his four characters into,
in this venom-spewing play, is the equivalent of a 40-acre pit of quicksand.
The harder they try to struggle free, the deeper they sink. Until dawn comes
and everyone skulks off to try and reestablish the lies they live by, day to
day.

Yes,
Virginia Woolf is all about the fibs
we tell ourselves, and each other, and what would happen if we could no longer
wrap ourselves in their comfortable folds. Seemingly placid George and his
wife, the sexy and braying Martha are the ultimate pairing of tarantula and
scorpion, stripping each other of their protective lies and dragging their
young guests, Nick and Honey, down with them.

The
thrust and parry games that Albee invents in this play, lubricated with much
alcohol and fueled by fantasies, are always fascinating to watch. And it is
equally interesting to see how four actors can bring these deliriously flawed characters
to life, for it is no small challenge.

In
this production, George and Martha are portrayed by Gregory Violand and Molly
McGinnis, and they have moments where the sparks truly fly. The gray-bearded
Violand exudes a sort of exhausted disinterest as this college professor whose
career has stalled completely. But he is brought to battling life after Martha
keeps prodding him with insults and ultimately reveals their one closely-held
secret. Violand gets stronger and more nuanced as the play goes on.

As
Martha, McGinnis is suitably hard-edged and even quite vulnerable at times, but
she doesn’t radiate the Earth Mother sensuousness that her character requires.
Indeed, there is a rather sterile quality to many of George and Martha’s
interchanges. Martha is driven by the lack of success of her husband, at the
college where her father is the president, and that is galling to her. That
rage, combined with their complicated issues on the offspring front, should
fuel more bile and viciousness from her.

Their
guests at this late evening psychological death match include the delicate and
frequently upchucking Honey (Katie Nabors in blonde ditz mode) and her long-suffering
husband Nick (a well-modulated Daniel Simpson), who also teaches at the
college. As a couple, they have their own secrets that George and Martha
exploit with relish.

It
must be noted that all the actors are facing an obstacle in the minimalist
scenic design created by Kristen Nicole and director Martin Friedman. In his
program notes, Friedman mounts a defense of this approach, which eliminates almost
all the trappings of a typical mid-level professor’s house in favor of several
platforms at different levels and precious few set pieces or props. These
include a small bar with bottles, ice bucket and glasses, along with a few
books, pillows, shoes and other domestic detritus left artfully disarrayed around the
stage.

While
this bare bones approach can work with some shows, Virginia Woolf is different. We need to see the “stuff” of their
life to get a sense of how completely stuck they are in their cosseted,
dead-end misery. And just for practicality sake, it helps to have items on the
set so that actors can move from one place to another for a reason (to sit in
an easy chair, to look at a picture) instead of just roaming back and forth and
sitting wherever.

Plus,
with the actors often speaking to each other from different levels and across a
wide expanse of stage, the intimacy of the play is reduced and the pressure the
actors can exert on each other is thereby softened. It would have been better
to have a full, detailed scenic design or go totally minimalist—just four
stools on a small section of the stage—instead of splitting the difference.

That
said, Friedman is a deft and insightful director, helping his cast to cadge some shivers
of revulsion from this classic play. And as always, Albee’s words carry the
day, taking us on a fraught journey through an evening of barely civilized
confrontation, showing us how our illusions can either protect us or destroy
us.

Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Through
October 4 at Lakeland Civic Theatre, Lakeland Community College Campus, just
south of Rt. 90 and Rt. 306 in Kirtland, 440-525-7134.

No comments:

About Me

is an award-winning theater critic, having been named Best Critic in Ohio by both the Press Club of Cleveland and the Society of Professional Journalists. She is currently the theater critic for Cleveland Scene. She has also reviewed plays for The Plain Dealer, Cleveland Free Times and City Pages in Minneapolis, MN. Christine acted and directed locally, primarily at Dobama Theatre, from 1969-1984.